


i walk the night in the valley

by mwildsides



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: F/M, M/M, post S1, so spoilers. ish.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 02:01:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1670612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mwildsides/pseuds/mwildsides
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richie knows he'll see his brother again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i walk the night in the valley

They only stop when the sun sinks behind the horizon, where it won't sear their skin and turn them to ash. 

Santanico lets go of his hand, grinning like a jackal as she throws the door open and all but runs out into the night. Richie can hear her laughter even before he cuts the engine and gets out himself, and it makes him smile, makes him feel warm in the pit of his stomach.

( _maybe this is what happy feels like_ )

He pulled the car off the road in the middle of nowhere when Nico had mentioned stopping, and he didn't blame her for wanting to escape the stuffy air of the car. In contrast, the night air is crisp and fresh, like spring, like new grass and the green of trees, the crackle of new things breaking ground. They're in the desert though, and even in the night he can see the brown of the dirt and shrub oak, smell the warmth the ground soaked up during the day. It radiates from his shoes to the soles of his feet, making him wiggle his toes. 

And the stars, jesus he can't remember when he saw so many. The sky is almost white with them, smeared in patterns like the swipe of a painters brush. He doesn't realize when the smile stretched across his face, or when he tilted his head back to look at the sky until Santanico's footsteps approach him. When she takes his hand, he looks down at her, watches as she presses her lips to his palm. She has her eyes closed, and he can feel her smile. 

"Thank you," she says, pressing his hand to her cheek, her little hands holding him at the wrist, and the other flattened against his fingers. 

Richie just smiles at her. He can't really fathom what it's like to be outside again after _five hundred years_ , but he knows it feels good that he could give it to her. Fresh air, the stars and the sickle moon, kangaroo mice bouncing around, hunting for bugs. He can smell a thousand and one little creatures in the desert underbrush, hear heartbeats and the tiny _batt batt_ of wings--it must be a thousand times better for her. 

Again Nico smiles at him, her teeth bright even through the dark of the night, and dances away, her arms outstretched in elation as she all but vaults over a dried out tree trunk. Richie tucks a hand in his pocket, and brings the other up to his chest--his silent chest, now, there's no thump he could feel no matter how hard he pressed his fingers between his ribs--as if to protect the feeling there. His heartbeat may be gone, but he'd never felt so full. So full and calm, like he'd never belonged anywhere else. 

Which brings on a certain sense of hurt. In the distance, Santanico's laugh echoes back to him, and Richie frowns. 

It's not that he wishes Seth were here--or at least he doesn't think so--he just....wishes... Things would have been different. 

He wishes Seth understood, and when he realizes that, Richie knows that's all he _ever_ wanted. Maybe it was a lot to ask for; this life, Santanico, his brother, but Richie just didn't know how to want a life free of Seth. 

It wasn't a life anymore, though, it was an eternity stretched out in front of him. 

He had told Seth it was time to let go, and it was, but never seeing his brother again--it hurt. The look on Seth's face, that hopeful, desperate smile, had hurt. 

Swallowing hard, Richie let his mouth fall open on a sigh. 

( _Seth. Seth. I hope you find what you're looking for, brother._ )

He should have just turned Seth, not given him a choice and dragged him along, wherever it was he and Santanico where going. A little frustrated growl slips from between his teeth, and Richie leans back against the hood of the car. 

And just like that, Nico is there, her hands soft at the lapels of his jacket. 

"What is it, _mi vida_?" She asks quietly, her voice like crushed velvet. Richie schools his expression, even though he knows there isn't any hiding from Santanico, and looks down at her. 

"Just wish things would have gone differently with Seth." He shrugs, and she nods in reply, smoothing her hand over his chest. "I'm fine."

"I know," Nico says, pressing in close now, "I know. And you're going to miss him."

"I know." Richie smiles a little when he mimics her words, and her mouth ticks up in a half smile. 

"We can find him again one day."

And he knows what she means by that; find Seth, give him the choice to come with them, to have this life too. 

He wonders if his brother will change his mind, if he'll miss Richie that much. 

"I don't want him to die without me," and Richie desperately hopes his voice doesn't waver, even though his throat feels tight, "I don't want to find out, in twenty, thirty years that he died and I was too late, and I don-" 

It's stupid. He feels stupid because his eyes burn, and when he blinks a tear rolls down his cheek. Santanico makes a quiet sound and thumbs it away, leaning in to press her lips softly to his. 

"I promise you he won't, I promise. His hatred for me can't keep him from you for long, he's already proved that much. And you know he loves you." 

Richie swallows like he's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Even though Santanico has probably seen everything, knows everything about him, hearing that someone _knows_ about he and Seth still makes him feel caught. Like she’s going to turn, tell him they're disgusting, they're _brothers._

Nico smiles, kisses him again with her hands on either side of his neck. There's no hiding from her. 

"But this is a new start, Richie." Her thumb strokes the corner of his jaw. "When he knows this, we'll find him again, and he can come with us."

For a little while, Richie searches her face for any hint that she's lying, any touch of jealousy or anything that isn't soft understanding. But there's nothing else. 

"Sorry," he says with a laugh, "I think the longest we were ever apart was a day or two, aside from when Seth got put away."

"I know how it feels." Santanico sighs as she leans forward to rest her head against his chest, nestling against him. He knows she must mean being separated from Carlos, because no matter what happened, they were still together for five centuries. Richie guesses brotherhood doesn’t have much on that. 

 

They spend most of the night in the desert, Santanico reveling in her new found freedom, and Richie following, chasing, because they run and run for miles until their clothes are torn and dirty. They fill up on little creatures and all the nocturnal life of the desert, smearing blood across their skin with a mindlessness that made Richie feel so _good_. Not thinking felt _good_. 

When they circle back to the car sometime around 4am, wild-eyed and grinning, Nico starts to _laugh_ , a sound sweet and sharp like a violin. Jacket long gone, Richie chuckles and watches her as he surveys what is left of his shirt, before deciding to strip it off even though he doesn't really have any other clothes. 

"How good it feels to be outside again," Santanico says, gawking up at the night sky with exaltation. In the east the stars are fading just a little, the sky lightening blue like some kind of liquid spilled and seeping.

"Don't remember the last time I watched the sun rise." Richie looks out at the horizon, just as Nico looks back at him, lips parted and her curls tangled and wild. He smiles.

"We can watch it," she says, and there's something childish about how simply _gleeful_ she is about it all, but Richie can't really blame her. 

She gets in the car, waving for him to follow, even though he was already making his way to the drivers side. They both settle in, and once Santanico shrugs out of her jacket, she leans forward to open the glove compartment. 

She hands him a pair of sunglasses. 

Richie starts to laugh, but puts them on anyway. It makes him think of the bank job. Like that, though, they can watch the sun crest the horizon, through two heavily shaded panes of glass, and even the Richie can feel the heat of it. 

He feels settled. He feels sane (for the first time in forever), but he doesn't exactly feel whole. Obviously. The cavern in his being that was carved out for Seth isn't something that's ever going to go away, heal on its own, empty as it is--but Richie...feels okay. 

He'll have Seth again. It may feel like an insurmountable thing, to wait, but Richie knows, he'll see his brother again.

**Author's Note:**

> stay tuned for a part two.


End file.
